Luluah

Neuroscientist captures an MRI of a mother and child

Professor Rebecca Saxe (MIT) has taken the first ever MR image of a mother and child. 

“This picture is an MR image of a mother and a child that I made in my lab at MIT. You might see it as sweet and touching… an image of universal love. We can’t see clothes or hairstyles or even skin colour. From what we do see, the biology and the brains, this could be any mother and child or even father and child at any time and place in history; having an experience that any human can recognise.

Or you might see it as disturbing, a reminder that our human bodies are much too fragile as houses for ourselves. MRI’s are usually medical images and often bad news. Each white spot in that picture is a blood vessel that could clog, each tiny fold of those brains could harbour a tumour. The baby’s brain maybe looks particularly vulnerable pressed against the soft thin shell of its skull.

I see those things, universal emotions and frightening fragility but I also see one of the most amazing transformations in biology.”

Recently, I got a question from @party-shaker about being a first-year meddie and surviving.

Let me tell you about my first-year self. I failed my first exam. Not ‘failed’ as in ‘I only got eighty percent’, I ‘failed’ as in ‘bottom of my class, warning letter from the faculty’ failed. First year med is tough. The content is new, you constantly feel like you’re not good enough and you have no idea what you’re doing, and everyone seems smarter than you.

But I got my act together, and got some really good grades by the end of the semester. Mind you, I made a lot of mistakes in the process. Here’s my dos and don’ts of first year med.

DO get adequate sleep.

DON’T trade sleep for studying. Early in my med school career, I had an anatomy tutor who petrified me. In order to learn everything, I would sleep at 10pm, wake at midnight, study until 4am, and sleep until 6am. I was able to answer some questions in the tutes, but I recall none of that anatomy now.

DO find out how you learn. Mind maps, flash cards, bright colours, lists. Do what works for you and don’t listen to anyone else.

DON’T skip class. Yes, the lecturer may be boring and you may be tired. But you’ll have a head start on your learning by going, and the lecturers write the exams.

DO ask questions.

DON’T assume everyone else knows the answers. They don’t.

DO spend time every day revising. Even ten minutes pays off in the long run.

DON’T cram. In fact, you can’t cram medicine. I tried cramming for my six years in med school – I can guarantee that it doesn’t work.

DO have breaks. Run, walk, see your friends, get some Vitamin D. Being stuck in your study or library all day will inevitably drive you crazy.

DO make a study group. You’ll learn more and make friends. It’s win win.

DON’T be competitive. Don’t tear other meddies down or humiliate them. Be nice to other students, help them, but don’t put them down. Not only is it mean, but medicine’s a small world. The kid you were mean to in med school will not refer you patients when they’re a consultant.